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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

MGL imposes 20 pc gas cut on bakeries

Soon, Mumbai to starve of vada-pav, pav-bhaji Mumbai: The city of dreams fueled by vada-pav and pav-bhaji could soon face a nightmarish food crunch. Amid the ongoing commercial LPG crisis, Mumbai’s piped natural gas (PNG) supplier Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) has imposed a 20pc cut in gas offtake by bakeries, forcing scale down of production of laadi-pav, breads and other bakery staples that feed millions daily, plus an ominous price hike soon. The MGL directive follows a central order (March...

MGL imposes 20 pc gas cut on bakeries

Soon, Mumbai to starve of vada-pav, pav-bhaji Mumbai: The city of dreams fueled by vada-pav and pav-bhaji could soon face a nightmarish food crunch. Amid the ongoing commercial LPG crisis, Mumbai’s piped natural gas (PNG) supplier Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) has imposed a 20pc cut in gas offtake by bakeries, forcing scale down of production of laadi-pav, breads and other bakery staples that feed millions daily, plus an ominous price hike soon. The MGL directive follows a central order (March 9), calling upon all bakeries to restrict their gas consumption to only 80 pc of their average usage over the past six months. The new rule came into effect from March 12, immediately sending alarm bells ringing across Mumbai’s panicky bakery network. In a missive to bakery owners, MGL also indicated that PNG prices would be revised shortly due to “gas pooling” arrangements, with the final rates to be announced after consultations with suppliers and the government. It further warned that any bakery exceeding the new consumption cap could face penal tariffs or even abrupt disconnection of gas supply. For hundreds of bakeries already grappling with a crippling shortage of commercial LPG cylinders, the move served to fuel the prevailing uncertainty. “This could virtually paralyse Mumbai’s food chain, hitting the common masses worst,” warned Khodadad Irani, President of the Indian Bakers Association (IBA). “There are nearly 300 registered bakeries in South Mumbai alone and around 1,000 across the city. Together they produce almost half the city’s daily requirement of around 70 lakh laadi-pavs. More than half of these bakeries depend on LPG to fire their ovens. With LGP supplies disrupted and now PNG curtailed, many may be forced to shut down within days,” a glum Irani told ‘The Perfect Voice.’ He explained the staggering implications of the potential disruption round the corner - on average, each bakery churns out around 1,500 trays (laadis) of pav every day, employs 30-50 workers per unit, and outside the flaming ovens, an entire informal economy thrives on the humble pav. Two Lakh Workers Nearly two lakh delivery workers ferry fresh bread across the city each morning on bicycles and motorcycles, supplying to all from roadside stalls to high-end eateries and corporates. Besides, over six lakh vendors run small stalls selling the city’s beloved yummies - vada-pav, samosa-pav, bhajiya-pav, usal-misal-pav, pav-bhaji, dabelis. “Under such a scenario, if bakeries pause or shut down, there will be huge consequences. Not only will common people suffer, but close to a million livelihoods linked to this ecosystem could be hit,” Irani pointed out. He reminded the authorities how bakeries remained operational during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring a steady supply of bread and pav when Mumbai reeled under lockdown. “We kept our ovens running then despite enormous risks, to ensure Mumbai would not go hungry. But now we are facing a dire fuel shortage, and until commercial LPG quotas are normalized, we simply cannot continue operations,” Irani said grimly. With desperation creeping in both among the bakers and their customers, some bakeries have begun buying LPG cylinders on the black market at three to four times the official price, and others are allegedly diverting domestic cylinders to power their industrial ovens. Ironically, the sector had only recently initiated a painful transition to cleaner fuels - following court-mandated environmental directives in 2025 - by scrapping their traditional coal or wood-fired ovens to invest in PNG-LPG-based systems, or electric powered ovens. “Most of us complied with the shift to eco-friendly fuels. But now those very fuels are scarce. If the situation is not resolved quickly, Mumbai could soon wake up to a shocking reality - a city without pav,” Irani predicted. Neighbourhood bakers fret Local bakers say the crisis threatens not only the supply of laadi-pav but a wide range of popular bakery products that have a ready market. They include: sweet bun-pav, tutti-frutti pav, kharis, rusks, crunchy bruns, toasts, puffs, pastries, brownies, cupcakes, nankhatais, cookies, mini-pizzas, unbranded biscuits, et al. “Mumbai is a crowded city. It cannot survive without bakeries running 24x7. Many people eat only one proper meal at home and rely on street foods and snacks outside. Everything depends on steady fuel supply. If bakeries stop, the entire food chain - from corporate canteens to school kitchens and mass caterers - will be doomed,” fumed a contract baker Mohsin Alvi.

Poorest show raises doubt on Pawar’s relevance

Updated: Nov 25, 2024

With only 10 seats, the NCP (SP)’s poor results put a question mark on the party’s survival as an entity independent of Ajit Pawar

Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: Last week, Sharad Pawar flamboyantly challenged his opposition saying Sharad Pawar cha naad karaycha nahi. Loosely translated, it meant ‘don’t mess with me’. The gathered audience erupted in cheers. It was during a large public rally at Madha in Solapur. And if the response that Pawar’s rallies got was an indication of victory, the numbers should’ve been better. In other meetings, he urged the people to overthrow and defeat those who had walked away from his party, especially Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse-Patil. The voters didn’t respond though. Both politicians won. And so did Ajit Pawar who was being challenged by his own nephew, Yugendra in Baramati. A margin of more than 80,000 is no mean feat. It showed who the people chose.


While Ajit Pawar, who got the NCP party name and the clock symbol won 40 seats out of the 59 he contested, the NCP (SP) could manage to bag a mere 15 out of 86, a sharp difference in the strike rate. The electoral results have, in a way, legitimised Ajit’s leadership of the party. Soon after the results were out, Devendra Fadnavis commented that the people have recognised the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the results have legitimised Ajit Pawar’s NCP as the ‘real NCP’.


The real test is in constituencies where the two NCPs were in a face-off and Ajit Pawar’s party emerged with flying colours. In Indapur, the NCP defeated veteran politician Harshvardhan Patil; in Kagal, Hasan Mushrif won against NCP (SP)’s Samarjeet Ghatge and in Mumbai, Sana Malik defeated Fahad Ahmad.


The outcome of these much-watched polls puts a question mark on the future of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. The Nationalist Congress Party has always been close to power since its inception in 1999. The only time it was away from the ruling benches was between 2014 and 2019. Sustaining a split and a loss will not be easy for the party with an ageing patriarch.


Pawar poured his energies into this election, zipping across the length and breadth of the state. It was evident to all that this would be the last election in which the senior politician would actively campaign and lead the party. At 84, Pawar is troubled by health concerns and a cracked party and family. His succession plan is now hanging in imbalance. With this election, Pawar wanted to groom a new leadership of the party with most second rung leaders having left him for Ajit. While Supriya Sule, as the party’s national working president and Jayant Patil, the state unit chief, led the party into these elections, what they have inherited is now a regional political party with only 15 members in the legislative assembly.


Most newcomers that they had bet on, have lost. Fahad Ahmad, who was being projected as the young Muslim face, lost to Nawab Malik’s daughter. Yugendra Pawar, who was fiercely supported by large sections of the Pawar family, lost by a huge margin. Despite a party spokesperson saying that young politicians prefer to be in the opposition because they can make a mark, it is hard for politicians to be away from power for too long. A party member expects a bigger exodus to Ajit Pawar. “Power is most attractive in politics. This result legitimised Ajit Pawar’s leadership and put a question mark on Supriya Sule’s ability to lead the party now. Five years is a long time to be on the wrong side of power,” he says.


The results show that the NCP (SP) has suffered the biggest setback, managing to get a little over a dozen seats after contesting 86 constituencies. Picking up the shards of a shattered party will be tough and piecing them together will be even more uphill.


Will Sule be able to pull it off? Party members aren’t sure. “Pawar is now a tired man; maybe the time for retirement has indeed come. Politicians who are hopeful of a future will not remain here. It will be a wise move for the family and the party to reunite. There’s no other way,” says a party

member.

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